UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH SNOWFLAKES
wrightpix single macro snowflake
Here's a little BTS (behind the scenes) from a macro snowflake shoot to help you understand what went into the making of these images.
The backstory: this was my first attempt at macro snowflakes. I had been at MacCallum on my three-hour date with the Cedar Waxwings earlier in the day. When I got home, I shared with Kaleigh that I wanted to try macro snowflakes, but the snow had let up.
I decided to decompress for a bit, then a few hours later, Kaleigh started shouting something from the kitchen.
“The snow is picking up. You should try.”
Okay, okay. Hot chocolate and gluten-free coffeecake will have to wait.
I kind of knew what I needed to do to capture macro flakes. I didn’t have time to do more research because it was too close to sunset, so I’d have to wing it and rely on my memory. Uh, oh.
The grill was my table and the wrightpix blanket was a good backdrop; perfect for Valentine’s Day weekend.
THINGS WORKING IN MY FAVOR
It was snowing consistently.
I remembered reading in the past that a dark background would be good. I had a black wrightpix blanket right by my desk. Perfect!
It was a “Love to the Moon & Back” blanket. Perfect for Valentine’s Day weekend. I was feeling the love.
The blanket worked well because the snowflakes could catch the fibers in it and not blow away.
I could use the grill as my table.
This is the blanket filled with snowflakes. I was zooming in on individual flakes to make the final images.
THINGS NOT WORKING IN MY FAVOR
I was tired.
It was a bit nippy in the 20s. Read I needed to get my gloves on, unlike earlier in the day. At MacCallum, it was warm enough that I didn’t need my gloves.
It was windy.
The snowflakes were tiny. So, so tiny.
Snow was falling quite quickly, so as soon as I set up a shot, another flake or two or three would ruin it.
My back started aching from leaning over. Funny because as I set out on my adventure, I announced I needed a chair and table for this. Ha!
Blanket fibers. Using macro really magnified the fibers in my shots. I had to make Lightroom edits to hide them (increase black and spot edits).
Focus challenges.
I did my best and stayed out for about half an hour.
This is me zooming in on the snowflakes trying to get isolated flakes.
Guess how many photos I took? The person who guesses the closest without going over will win.
EQUIPMENT I USED
Nikon D850 camera
Tamron 90mm Macro Lens
Induro Stealth CLT103 Tripod
Benro V2E Ball Head
I forgot to reattach my shutter release cable, which I highly recommend.
Dark-colored blanket/material for flakes to land on
THE END RESULTS
I think I did okay, but I think I want a different macro lens, so I can zoom in and get even more isolated detail. As a non-techie photographer who is always learning, I’ll have to figure out what lens I need.
On a phone, the images look pretty good, but I view them at 200% or more on my computer and I expect sharpness at that size. These images are not sharp enough for me, so I’ll work on what I need to do to improve in that area.
Notice the settings on these images, all shot in manual mode. All three images had the same settings: 1/80 sec at f/11, ISO 800. And, look at the size of the images: TINY. These are all severely cropped. Typically, I like to keep all images at 2,500 or above.
It was fun to try this macro photo shoot and I’m glad I did. Thank you, Kaleigh! I heard that mini storm might be our last significant snow of the season, so boo hoo. We’ll see.
Thanks for reading and learning along with me. If you have any tips to help me improve on focus and clarity, I’m all ears.